Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Amsterdam looking to set a 20kph speed limit on e-bikes

Faster cyclists could be encouraged to either shift to the roads, or lower speed on the cycle tracks

Amsterdam officials are looking to introduce a speed limit of 20kph for electric bikes within the city boundaries to improve safety for pedestrians as well as other cyclists.

In a letter to the city council, Amsterdam’s transport chief Melanie van der Horst said that e-bikes can often travel faster than 30 kph, boosting the range of speeds on cycle tracks and endangering children and elderly cyclists, reports Dutch News.

While the Netherlands is famed for its cycling culture, with two-thirds of all daily transportations made by bike in the Dutch capital, there has been some concern with the increasing speed aided by the growing use of e-bikes.

Van der Horst pointed to a 2021 survey indicating that 70 per cent of people in Amsterdam were concerned about traffic safety. The speed of electric bikes and scooters was a primary reason for their feeling of insecurity in traffic.

> Dutch research finds cyclists increasingly at risk at roundabouts

Data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) also indicated that the number of collisions involving e-bikes increased in 2021, with the number of fatalities also rising to 80, six more than the previous year.

Dutch cyclists’ union, Fietsersbond is campaigning to raise awareness on high-speed e-bikes and ‘fat bikes’ — those with extremely wide tyres. They are arguing that some of these bikes can go up to 42kph, or 26mph, and are being altered by the user to allow them to do so, and shouldn’t be allowed in bike lanes.

Van der Horst’s plans involve something similar to this. “A faster cyclist will be encouraged to either cycle on the road or lower their speed on cycle tracks, which should improve cycle path safety,” she said.

However, to bring any such changes, national legislation would be required to legally reduce bike speeds and Van der Horst said that she is now lobbying for change in The Hague.

> Amsterdam cyclists get signs asking them not to jump red lights

The city is also researching ‘intelligent speed adaptation’ technology which will warn cyclists that they are entering a ‘low-speed zone’ via an app. E-bike manufacturers have also started to adapt their software to limit speeds. VanMoof said that in 2022 it changed its app to stop clients setting a higher speed limit, but as expected, people have found ways around it.

Meanwhile, speed limit for vehicles will be pushed down from 50kph to 30kph on 500 roads in Amsterdam this autumn. “More than 80 per cent of roads will become a 30kph zone and we are researching a speed limit on the bike lanes. The growth of electric vehicles means there are huge speed differences on bike lanes and studies show that this creates risks,” said Van der Horst.

Adwitiya joined road.cc in 2023 as a news writer after graduating with a masters in journalism from Cardiff University. His dissertation focused on active travel, which soon threw him into the deep end of covering everything related to the two-wheeled tool, and now cycling is as big a part of his life as guitars and football. He has previously covered local and national politics for Voice Wales, and also likes to writes about science, tech and the environment, if he can find the time. Living right next to the Taff trail in the Welsh capital, you can find him trying to tackle the brutal climbs in the valleys.

Add new comment

40 comments

Avatar
mattw | 1 year ago
2 likes

There seems to be some confusion in reporting between E-Bikes and S-Pedelecs.

Avatar
Mungecrundle | 1 year ago
2 likes

20kph is more than enough for any vehicle, including the humble bicycle, in any mixed space with pedestrians. If enough arseholes decide to hookn around on electric motorbikes that happen to look like bicycles, then guess who gets the blame and eventually banned from such areas?

#NoCollectiveResponsibility

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to Mungecrundle | 1 year ago
1 like

...however the bike *paths* are not mixed spaces in urban areas in NL.  Pedestrians may be crossing them but mostly the two modes have their own areas (something the UK should do, already).  It should not be impossible to have *some* more rapid through-routes in many places.  They are building genuine fast cycle routes connecting towns there - not like UK's "cycle superhypeways".  I know the Dutch have already got a good handle on that with their "monofunctional streets" - perhaps this just needs applying to cycling?

It's arbitrary but I think the 25kph limit for assistance is about right in general.  There are some questions (being asked by NL now) about what happens when the whole population gets that ability (short - looks like you get lots of older people seriously injured, largely in single-bike crashes).  Perhaps something specific can be done for them, or maybe this cost is worth the greater independence and fitness delivered by cycling across the growing elderly population?

Avatar
joe9090 replied to Mungecrundle | 1 year ago
0 likes

We dont have mixed spaces in Amsterdam. I always find its good to kinow what you are talking about before commenting...

Avatar
KDee replied to joe9090 | 1 year ago
1 like

No, but we do have a lot of confused tourists that don't realise they're wandering along a bike lane.

Avatar
Mungecrundle replied to joe9090 | 1 year ago
2 likes

"Amsterdam officials are looking to introduce a speed limit of 20kph for electric bikes within the city boundaries to improve safety for pedestrians as well as other cyclists"

Silly me. Rule #1 always check your sources! And never trust a headline.

Good to know from someone on the ground that this is not actually an issue as cyclists and pedestrians don't share spaces. Bit surprising that the Amsterdam Authorities didn't check with you first.

Avatar
Jippily | 1 year ago
2 likes

I think a lot of the modding here could be prevented if the maximum allowable wattage could depend on weight. My 20kg electric road bike feels great with a 250 watt motor, but my 36kg fat bike was borderline useless on even a slight hill.

Avatar
mattw replied to Jippily | 1 year ago
2 likes

Red herring.

Bike paths in Amsterdam are not generally a mixed environment.

Avatar
cyclisto | 1 year ago
1 like

I am a slow cyclist and I would agree with that, but how easy is this to be enforced? Most bicycles have no speedometers.

It would be great even if bicycles were allowed in pedestrian zones with a limit of 10 km/h (amateur runner speed, or half the speed of a teen sprinting) but without a speedometer this is impossible.

Avatar
joe9090 replied to cyclisto | 1 year ago
6 likes

Oh you would be surprised!!!! Dutch rozzers have testing kit that can determine if a moped (or presumably a leccy bike) is delimited. 
Then you get fined big time. 
I doubt they will go after race bikers on non leccy bikes and certainly not on an ex-olympic granny on an omafiets. 

 

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to joe9090 | 1 year ago
1 like

Nice!  Labour intensive but that looks like it would do the job!  Of course, the smart will ensure their cycle / moped has a hidden "overdrive" switch that the police won't find...

Avatar
joe9090 replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
1 like

true, but Dutch police are pretty canny lot when it comes to 2 wheeled vics!

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to joe9090 | 1 year ago
0 likes

Wouldn't it be easier just to have a GPS speedometer handy and nip up the road on the suspect vehicle?

Avatar
Carbon cycle | 1 year ago
1 like

The danger is when vehicles go at different speeds and you get passes - close or otherwise. A sane approach would be to limit all vehicles to the same speed on each piece of infrastructure. I'd limit e-bikes and cars to 20mph on all roads in built up areas and e-bikes to walking speeds in pedestrian areas or on footpaths. Enforced by gps - a stealth way to bring in gps speed limiting for all vehicles.

Avatar
Car Delenda Est replied to Carbon cycle | 1 year ago
0 likes

Wouldn't it make sense to just ban overtaking if that were the desired result?

That said I'll support anything that brings in greater regulation of motor vehicle speed.

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to Car Delenda Est | 1 year ago
0 likes

Car Delenda Est wrote:

Wouldn't it make sense to just ban overtaking if that were the desired result?

Sort of relies on the few folks who don't treat them as Minimum Speed Limits, but yes.  It is actually a good safety idea and NL has already implemented this in many places.  This is just for motorists' safety BTW - this is implemented on roads which have separate cycle paths.

I can't think about the headlines though if physically preventing overtaking (or undertaking...) was brought in in the UK.

Avatar
Cugel replied to Carbon cycle | 1 year ago
1 like

Carbon cycle wrote:

The danger is when vehicles go at different speeds and you get passes - close or otherwise. A sane approach would be to limit all vehicles to the same speed on each piece of infrastructure. I'd limit e-bikes and cars to 20mph on all roads in built up areas and e-bikes to walking speeds in pedestrian areas or on footpaths. Enforced by gps - a stealth way to bring in gps speed limiting for all vehicles.

This the answer. Well, the part about setting speed limits that are low enough to avoid the slow being bullied, beaten and battered by the fast where the place is crowded. The GPS will never be implemented as the freedumbers, as well as those wary of being spied upon, will vote agin' any such notion.

The difficulty is enforcement, see? It's a rare driver of car or van that doesn't regularly break speed limits, by a large amount in many cases.  The numbers of speeders will just rise if the limits are lowered. Ditto cyclists on paths shared with pedestrians - although "shared" often seems the wrong word. "Jousted for" perhaps?

As to "shared paths" as a notion ..... It's a bad idea to share narrow and often degraded paths between those who can do up to 25mph (fit cyclists) and those who merely walk, especially those walking with children and dogs. Many cyclists will be considerate but it takes only a very few of the other kind to cause havoc. They'll do so on any bike, not just an e-bike.

Roads are better for cyclists; and would be perfect if the car loons were effectively prevented from their looning.

But then that problem of "no enforcement" returns. Car looning is now rife as the traffic rozzer is nowhere to be found. Even in the rare case of an apprehension, the beak is far too kind to the loon.

 

Avatar
joe9090 replied to Cugel | 1 year ago
4 likes

None of your points are very relevant to Amsterdam though. We use km not mph. 25mph is like 40kmph and is far too fast. We don't have alot of shared paths. Where we do the peds are better behaved and tend to be more mindful of cycle traffic. 

The new legislation is aimed at electric bikers, fast leccy mopeds and espcially at deliveroo type riders - often riders who are not Dutch at all and are not initimate with safe cycling culture in the Netherlands.

Avatar
Bmblbzzz replied to joe9090 | 1 year ago
1 like

joe9090 wrote:

None of your points are very relevant to Amsterdam though. We use km not mph. 25mph is like 40kmph and is far too fast. We don't have alot of shared paths. Where we do the peds are better behaved and tend to be more mindful of cycle traffic. 

The new legislation is aimed at electric bikers, fast leccy mopeds and espcially at deliveroo type riders - often riders who are not Dutch at all and are not initimate with safe cycling culture in the Netherlands.

You may not intend it or even be aware of it, but supping with Geert Wilders will poison you.

Avatar
joe9090 replied to Bmblbzzz | 1 year ago
1 like

You must be having a delusional episode. Check your meds. Where did Geert come into this? I am not Dutch either. But i do try and observe the local customs. Worrying about those who do not is not facist or xenophobic. 

Avatar
grOg replied to Bmblbzzz | 1 year ago
0 likes

how very woke.. want to cancel him?

Avatar
ITK2012 replied to Carbon cycle | 1 year ago
0 likes

Firstly fitting GPS limiters to all cars on the road would be ruinously expensive. Secondly why should I be forced to cycle at 20mph when 25mph gets me there faster?

Avatar
Capt Sisko replied to ITK2012 | 1 year ago
2 likes

"why should I be forced to cycle at 20mph when 25mph gets me there faster?"

It's called being a law abiding citizen, social responsibility and ajusting your speed t o suit the conditions. My motorbike with do well over 140mph, do I ride that fast? No. Do I ride at lower then 30mph down the High Street on Saturday morning,  abosuletly. In fact sometime 20mph is too fast. If you can't see why there are time when you need to ride slower then you shouldn't be riding.

Avatar
Xenophon2 | 1 year ago
3 likes

The main problem is that many if not most of the pedal-assist cycles that are supposed to do maximum 25 km/h have been illegally modified to go faster.  Hell, an acquaintance of mine purchased one in a brick and mortar shop and the seller asked het when she took delivery if she wanted the thing to be able to reach 32.

You'd solve that by doing checks, seizing bikes and handing out hefty fines (imho people who tinker with the speed on those things are idiots because it means you're rinding without valid insurance and the consequences of an accident could be ruinous).  Not by imposing a speed limit.  If they don't care about boosting their bike then they won't care about a speed limit either.  Bike paths where I am are usually mandatory.  A 20 km/h limit would be ridiculously slow to me, I usually ride to work at 5:30 AM when there's no one around.

Other than that there's a general obligation to adapt your speed to the environment and other road/cyclepath users.  I'm not barrelling down a cycling path with young children riding their bikes doing 35 or more on my unassisted road bike either.  Just common sense.  Talking about common sense:  a huge risk (especially to themselves) are elderly people who consistently seem to crank up the assistance to the max but are obviously no longer able to handle the speed they're riding at.  Already fished one out of a canal.

 

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to Xenophon2 | 1 year ago
5 likes

Xenophon2 wrote:

You'd solve that by doing checks, seizing bikes and handing out hefty fines

Especially stopping the 1000W ones favoured by delivery riders, which have a rear hub motor the size of a dinner plate that even the most myopic copper should be able to spot.

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
4 likes

Yes... but in general a plus point and a problem with electronics is exactly that - they're inherently opaque. There are currently a wide range of these things, all shapes and sizes. Heck, some bike shops can't keep up with bike "standards" - how would a policeman or magistrate? Loophole lawyers' paradise coming up.

But yes, it's easy if you just stop the "dairylee triangle in frame" brigade or "almost a motorbike" lot. If only the food delivery companies had more control over their "employees" self-employed contractors...

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
7 likes

Quite a lot of the problem seems to be police just can't be bothered, a while ago I was riding up the 30mph limit Finborough Road in Chelsea at around 25mph on my (unpowered) road bike (nice draft behind the buses and HGVs up there!) with a police car keeping pace with me in the next lane when a Deliveroo rider shot between us, not pedalling, and off into the distance. I looked at the police driver and pointed, he just shrugged in a "tell me about it, whatchergonnado?" manner.

As you imply, pressure on the delivery companies should be the way to go, if they were fined a few thousand every time one of their riders was found on an illegal bike they'd soon get checking mechanisms in place.

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to Xenophon2 | 1 year ago
0 likes

Amen!

Avatar
HoarseMann | 1 year ago
4 likes

Well, they banned light mopeds (snorfiets, 25kph limit) from the bike paths a few years ago. To be fair, that seemed reasonable. They had morphed over the years from something resembling a bicycle with a small petrol engine, to an outright motorbike.

It also seems most mopeds were going way faster than 25kph. There's a neat heatmap on this website showing a clear difference between moped and bicycle average speeds. It also shows most bicycles are going slower than 25kph, centering  around 17kph.

I can see the logic in the busy central area of the city of a lower speed limit. It's no good getting rid of the snorfiets, only to be replaced by illegal e-bikes (that you can't even hear approaching). Perhaps if they reduced the road speed limit to 25kph and banned the overtaking of bicycles, then pushing e-bikes onto the roads might work.

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to HoarseMann | 1 year ago
3 likes

Unfortunately this sounds like multiple factors combining:

- as you say the historic "snorfiets on the fietspad" thing.  They've two categories of "scooters" - slower snorfiets and then bromfiets which are limited to 45kph and should be on roads only and not motorways.  Depending on who you read there is either a "bit of rule-bending" or widespread "souping up" of one class to essentially be the other.
- Lots of companies (especially some big car / motorbike companies - who'd have thunk it) are very keenly sniffing around the speed pedelecs market / pushing for less regulation of more powerful machines.  These are either electric mopeds or full on motorbikes which look a bit more like a cycle than the ICE ones.
- ebikes are hugely popular - and companies are eagerly upselling, same as with cars. They're allowed on all the paths.  However with these like bromfiets / snorfiets the lines between are getting blurred.
- young folks may be taking more risks on powered machines because young and " 'cos it's a only a bike, innit"?
- older people are continuing to ride with "full gas" using ebikes when they might have slowed or even stopped riding.  That's great in many ways but over a certain age your chances of a very serious outcome in a "normal" crash shoot up.
- possibly more people cycling overall?  Lots already do but there's still possibilities for more trips by this mode.

Pages

Latest Comments